


The night and day division

by Siren_whispers



Category: Assassination Classroom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-02-12 14:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12960909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siren_whispers/pseuds/Siren_whispers
Summary: Izuku Midoriya is like a ray of sunlight but Nagisa Shiota is like the moon, dark and mysterious.  They meet under strange circumstances and suddenly seem to remember the moon could not be seen were it not for the reflection of the sun.





	1. Dawn

Class 3E had lost more than one great friend that day, they had lost two. Nagisa, weeping, had pierced the chest of Korosensei with the point of the blade and watched as their teacher began to scatter and dissipate. There was a final flurry of the particles that encircled Nagisa, a feeling of warmth enveloping him as he stared forwards. Then the particle cleared and there was no small, blue-haired boy left looking back at then. Karma only stared at the space where his friend had once stood, lost for words and grasping at any fleeting explanation his mind could muster up.

It was as though the boy had appeared from nowhere, silent as a anything as he suddenly landed as though falling with a graceful roll. He came up standing, blinking as he watched the cruel black eyes of that villain near him. All Might watched as he ran faster and faster, trying to catch up before anything happened to the boy who had arrived from what seemed to be nowhere.  
But there was no reason for concern. The boy kept on looking forwards, almost disconcertingly calm. He took a couple of steps that All Might could barely seem to see before walking beside the man, dangling the sharp, ornate dagger that had once been in the villain’s now empty hand, between two nimble fingers. The boy stopped for but a moment ad All Might dazedly clasped the knife.  
“How?” he muttered as the boy, though All Might had believed he was a girl at the time, continued to walk.

Noticing the still stunned villain, All Might resumed his job, making quick work if the task at hand, before running up to the retreating back of the child.  
He was about to call out to him before the boy just stopped, head turned upwards as he looked contemplatively at the telephone wires that networked above them. Within a moment, he had sprung upwards. He didn't fall back down.  
Startled, All Might looked up, just in time to catch a flash of a dirtied, scuffed trainer as it fell to the ground and the barest trace of pale blue disappeared over the top of a high rise building.

All Might picked up the trainer, the laces were undone and there was a sort of glistening powder that refused to be rubbed off of the white canvas material, prominently stained brown with mud and crimson with what all Might could only hope was not blood. Then he set off, springing up and trailing the strange teenager. He may have found the perfect candidate for the heroics course of Yuuei, he couldn't give this kid his power…  
His power!

He could feel it fading suddenly, weakening as the boy became visible, sitting on the edge of the building and casually dangling his legs as he observed from high above, a sort of intelligence in his eyes that would suggest he knew exactly what was going on with every person that passed below him. All Might watched the air around the boy begin to fizzle a little, fading, dimming as though it were separate from the rest if the atmosphere. He cocked an eyebrow as he shrunk and felt his lungs, tickling and begging. He coughed and blood flew out from his mouth.

Nagisa hadn't had a very good day. He had killed his teacher, he had been trying for so long so he didn't understand just how he could feel such an ache in his chest when he did. The hot tears felt as though they were searing his porcelain cheeks as they spilled unrelentingly.  
Then the world had spun in that flurry of glistening particles before disappearing behind them. He stood there still, blank faces and gazing forwards into an endless white void.  
A voice echoed across the open space, calling on both high and deep tines at the same time, somehow both melodic and monotone.

“It's been awhile since I got the privilege of observing such a promising prospect as yourself.” it said. Try as he might, he could find no sign of its source.  
“what?” he called out to nowhere in particular. He continued to stare into the abyss, beginning to feel as though it were returning the favour with much rigour.  
“Yes promising. Now, allow me to tell you a tale of heroes and villains, of knots of twine and fate, of the lives you will soon be entering.” and the voice told him exactly what it had promised to before a door appeared, even the quiet noise it made as it appeared to Nagisa’s side like the loud bang of an explosion in the deafening silence.   
The door owned without assistance, beyond it another void, this one of velvety black that danced around, uninviting yet oh so tempting…

“Before you go,” the voice interrupted his thoughts “there is something you will need to get by on the oath you must lead and now I shall bestow it upon you.” Nagisa could feel it, like a weight on his shoulders. Still, he knew not what it was.  
“A quirk!” exclaimed the voice, the younger tones overpowering the older “A quirk to allow you to live a life amongst others better than the one you have left. Maybe one day you may return but there is much I require from you first. For the task ahead I have given you a grasp over darkness, both the darkness I'm people's minds and the darkness that lies in the shadows and night, for what does an assassin use to their advantage and where do they work better?”

Then, without warning, he was doing into the abyss, floating slowly downwards before he suddenly began to plummet and was forced to think on the feet that had been suddenly swept out from under him.  
He was terrified, confused and in complete and utter disbelief. But still, he would have to postpone his shock as he landed right before a man wielding a knife.

So there he sat, high above the city, watching people pass below, aware that none of them knew he was trying his hardest to keep a straight face because he knew that there was a man behind him, watching him.  
“I know you're there.” he said at last, eyes briefly flickering over the emaciated frame if the observer. They looked taken aback but still hesitantly approached.

Toshinori did have to wonder why it was this way, why he met promising children upon rooftops, true form on show, knowing he may well regret it all.  
The first of these children was, of course, Midoriya Izuku who had been promised the power of All Might after he trained himself into the right shape to use it. The second was the strange child who did not look at him but still looked expectant somehow.

“Hello,” he greeted “I'm Toshinori Yagi.”  
“All Might.” The boy added hushedly on the end, thinking hard about the voice and the things it had made him see.  
“Y-yes. How Do You..?”  
“I saw you down there, then I saw you up here. You are the only other person near.” Nagisa hated how easily he could lie and loved it at the same time  
Toshinori was bewildered.

“Who are you?” he asked the kid, looking at that soft, feminine face and trying to pull any discernible emotion from the façade of emotionless applied on top of it. He was a little startled to find he couldn't even draw close to doing so.  
“Nagisa.” was the reply. It didn't tell Toshinori much. It wasn't a title, just a first name that didn't give Toshinori even a family to trace him to as a family name would.

So he tried his luck.  
“Nagisa…-” he gestures for the boy to fill in the blanks.space but he merely sighed and began to rise to his feet.  
“Oh, Nagisa, my boy,” for he had managed to figure out the kid's gender in the close quarters “wait. I have something of yours and there's something I'd like to discus.”  
Nagisa retook his seat.

“Your shoe.” Nagisa nodded as he took it in his hands, scrutinizing the damage and wear and thinking it was probably time for the old shoes to be replaced, especially because he was aware of the steadily growing hole in the sole of the other. He slipped it on and tied the frayed laces tighter than they had been previously.  
“Now,” Toshinori began. Nagisa turned baby blue eyes upon him and watched as a smile spread across the gaunt face of the hero “am I correct in assuming you have just finished middle school?” something flashed across the boy's eyes momentarily, completely indecipherable yet gut wrenching at the same time. He didn't respond for a moment but managed to gather his thoughts and nod again.  
“Where are you applying for high school?”   
“I'm not sure.” Nagisa admitted, looking down. Toshinori was slightly taken aback by the answer but continued with his recommendation none the less.  
“Well, it's slightly late to apply,” He admitted “But I could get you a place in the Yuuei entrance exam if you'd like?”  
“yes, very much so, sir.” Toshinori was suddenly taken back by the sudden politeness as Nagisa recalled the teachings of the voice and what it had said about Yuuei. It was crucial he got in to a good hero class to get home and Yuuei was certainly the best option.  
“Excellent. I will see you then - however it is imperative I know your surname…”  
“Shiota.” He responded “Just know I'm unlikely to respond to it.”  
“Very well - I shall see you again soon, I hope.”  
“Very well sir.”

Toshinori watched in awe as the boy stood and tipped over the edge of the building, not flailing, completely calm. He fell until he reached a tree, grabbing onto a branch and swinging down into the ground below. .Toshinori watched the final glimpse he could catch of sky blue as it disappeared beneath foliage.  
He shook his head and knew that, for most, it would be considered an unnecessary risk to take but for Nagisa it appeared not to be one at all, almost like a leisure activity. Toshinori stared for a moment more before suddenly remembering he had to make haste to go to the proposed training session with Midoriya at the beach.

When he got to the beach, he found the green-haired boy there, waiting, staring out at the horizon line the sun was barely hovering above.  
“Midoriya, my boy!” He called, voice carrying over the mountains of rubbish that had built up over the course of time.  
“All Might!” He called back, eyes brightening as he saw his idol, the number one hero, appear. It may not have been the first time they had met, not even close, but there was a degree of fanboy-ish admiration both knew would take awhile to dissipate. Thankfully, the beach was otherwise empty.  
“How are You?” midoriya asked his mentor.  
“fine.” Toshinori nodded, not quite feeling good was ever the right word when his physical health was deteriorating so rapidly but honestly feeling rather happy.  
“you know,” he prepared to tell the story of his day but found himself stopping as a familiar figure came up over the same Hill Toshinori himself had passed over not long before.  
“Nagisa!” He called out, watching with vague amusement as the boy’s head turned and his pigtails bounced. His eyes didn't take long to meet Toshinori’s.  
“All Might.” The petite boy nodded as he made his way over, languidly climbing over hills of litter. Midoriya just watched on, confused. The boy stood in front of Izuku, watching him intently with bright eyes.  
“Izuku Midoriya, please meet Nagisa.”   
“Oh, ummm, nice to meet you.” Izuku stammered, somewhat profit by the atmosphere around the boy but doing everything in his power not to come off as impolite.  
“You too.” He glanced around “Are you having him clear this place up?”  
“Affirmative my boy! It's training!” but he didn't say what for.  
“Would he appreciate a spar?” Nagisa inquired, really using the opportunity as a polite-seeming way to let off the overwhelming mix of emotions he was still feeling. He may not be Karma, buy Nagisa could hold his own in a fight, especially when weapons were involved.  
He saw a hesitant look on Midoriya’s face as Toshinori considered.  
“No quirks of course,” He amended “just simple hand to hand combat? Surely there would be benefit in that?”  
Toshinori agreed and, once again, Izuku had to wonder just who this boy was.

They stood face to face on a flatter section of the beach, staring at each other. One pair of gentle eyes met another and suddenly Izuku lost sight of them. He couldn't see Nagisa for a moment as the other boy approached, not until he felt a blow to his left and suddenly saw his opponent dodging backwards.

It was a quick fight, one which Midoriya spent most of being thoroughly confused. All he knew was it had begun, he had received a bruised hip and it had ended with two fingers pointed purposefully at his neck. It was as though Nagisa was convinced he could kill or seriously injure Izuku right there if he so wished and his conviction made Izuku sure he could. The visible and audible gulp of Toshinori only further proved it.

Nagisa stepped away, hand falling to his side. He was smiling sweetly, resembling a young girl then more than ever.  
“You're smiling?” Izuku was a little incredulous and he could settle feel the ghost of nimble fingers hovering in front of his neck.  
“It was fun.” Nagisa confirmed.

“Nagisa.” Toshinori brought the conversation away from the bewildering ‘fight’ “would you care to stay here alongside us for a while?”  
“yes sir,” and suddenly he was polite again, much more like the middle school student he was than when he had his somehow neat nails pointing towards Izuku’s neck “I really don't have anywhere to go…” he sighed.  
“Nowhere to go?” Izuku asked, all memory of fear suddenly replaced by curiosity and concern.  
“I'm not from around here.” Nagisa said “so I don't have anywhere to go.”  
“But where are you going to spend the night?!” Izuku pressed, worry increasing.  
“I can rough it for a while, it's not much of a problem.” He had been spent such a large portion of his life trying to avoid his own mother he didn't pay his sleeping conditions much regard anymore. But Izuku looked scandalized at the prospect.  
“No!” He insisted “you can stay with me - my mum would love to meet you, promise!” Nagisa opened his mouth to protest but was cut off “You're coming with me if you haven't got anywhere else.”

So he just smiled. Izuku noticed it was a different smile to the one earlier, both were sweet smiles but there was something off putting in his eyes the first time around; it was gone that time.  
“Thank you.”   
“Any time.” Izuku smiled back, glad the initial awkwardness was gone and glad to have someone his own age near him besides Kacchan and his awful, awful quirk.

As they walked home side by side Izuku couldn't help but be slightly awed at Nagisa and his incredible nonchalance and analysis. He had been more than excited to share his own analysis with Nagisa who had looked at it and promised to study videos with him that night to see what else they could tell about the heroes and villains in the books.  
Thinking of heroes and villains made him think of something else.  
“Hey, Nagisa, do you have a quirk?”  
Nagisa looked mildly taken aback for a moment, looking at Izuku through the veil of the darkness that was just beginning to settle over them “Yes.”  
“oooh!” as someone who had yet to gain a quirk, Izuku held them in high regard “what is It?”  
“The manipulation of darkness.” Izuku couldn't help but feel it maybe sounded a little bit villainous but pushed the thought away when he reminded himself Nagisa himself seemed as though he would make a devastating villain but had chosen a much better path. Izuku knew not to judge someone by their quirk, knew that they had no control over them. Who was to say a quirk was befitting if a hero or not?  
“That’s cool.”  
“I guess, but I know better than to rely on my quirk for everything.”  
And then Izuku knew he was not like Kacchan, not at all. He smiled brightly, confusing Nagisa.

“Hey,” the blue-haired boy began as they rounded a corner “Does your mother know that you're bringing me home?” the thought of their destination had suddenly sprung back in his mind and he couldn't help but feel nervous at the prospect of being seen as an unwelcome guest in the home of someone he may just hope to call a friend.  
“yeah,” he nodded, bringing out a phone from his pocket “I told her earlier - she said she's really looking forward meeting you - I don't bring people over often.”  
Nagisa nodded and they lapsed into silence as they walked for a little bit longer before stopping in front of a rather large apartment building.

“Mum, I'm home.” Izuku called as he walked into the apartment. He took his shoes off by the door and Nagisa followed suit, catching a glimpse at the whole and deciding he really needed new shoes.  
“Welcome home!” a cheery voiced called from the kitchen. A moment later a short, smiling woman was there in front of them, wearing a slightly dirtied apron and with green hair tied up.  
“You must be Nagisa.” she smiled sweetly.  
“Yes ma’am, thank you for having me Miss Midoriya.”  
“It's not a problem dear, but please call me Inko.”  
“Alright.”  
“Good - Now are you boys hungry?”  
It was then that Nagisa realised he wasn't quite sure when he had last eaten. Izuku answered with an enthusiastic smile while Nagisa nodded subtly, smiling again.


	2. Sunlight

Izuku could tell Nagisa was a little bit uncomfortable. The other boy was eating slowly, not engaging in conversation unless asked a direct question and constantly scanning the room. Izuku noted how his eyes would pause as they passed the doors and windows.  
“So, Nagisa,” he begun after a while had passed and the silence had grown heavier and heavier and even the gentle taps of chopsticks against plates and glasses on the table sounded like pounding artillery.  
Nagisa tore his eyes away from the window and the steadily darkening cityscape beyond. The vanilla moon rising in the sky was whole.  
He looked at Izuku and a fraction of that discomfort faded. His head cocked to the side slightly, the action reminiscent of a puppy.  
“Are you planning on going to Yuuei?”  
“If I can get in.” Nagisa nodded “I'm assuming the same goes for you?”   
“Yeah!” he smiled and caught his mother doing the same in the corner of his eye “I've wanted to get into the heroics course there since I knew it existed!”  
“Me too!” Nagisa chimed, glad to have been able to tell something that wasn't a lie but, at the same time, didn't give him away. He honestly wished he could talk about what had happened, where he had come from, but he knew he couldn't. The voice had warned him and he didn't know what it would do to him if he broke oath.  
“That's cool!” Izuku continued to enthuse. There was something rewarding about watching the discomfort drain from Nagisa’s face. “I hope we can both get in!”  
“Me too. It’s so much better to learn with good teachers, the ones who are nice to their students and know their subjects well.” There was a bitter sweet reminiscence that passed across his face but the smile did not drop.  
“Right! The pro heroes are sure to be great teachers! I doubt their going to be like the teachers from my middle school.”

Nagisa had had some incredible teachers in Middle school - Korosensei, Bitch-Sensei, Karasuma - but he had also had some of the most rotten apples of the bunch. Takaoka had been violent and deranged and Nagisa had been lucky he was chosen otherwise they may well have been stuck with him for the whole year. The chairman was eccentric and hateful and biased. The other teachers from the main building of the school held that same bias and spoke only with disdain and mocking more suitable of an immature childhood bully than a teacher entrusted to teach what were considered elite students.

He shook his head gently.

“So,’ Izuku began after a moment “you still up for looking through the tapes with me?” and Nagisa’s smile brightened.  
“Absolutely.” He picked up his plate and moved it to the sink as Izuku did the same “I have a bit of practice picking out weaknesses and looking for strengths, no matter how insignificant they may seem.”  
“You look for Heroes weaknesses?”  
“If they're up against a villain with a quirk that gives them a particular advantage they're going to need backup. If they have any habits they can only work on eradicating them if they know they're there.” and suddenly the lies tasted bitter, like they were burning Nagisa’s throat. They were like poison.

“Huh. I mean, I do too; I don't think it's strange but everyone else seems to think it's abnormal. I mean, why wouldn't I want to find out everything about them even if it isn't good?” Nagisa could have sworn he saw Toshinori Yagi, emaciated and coughing blood, momentarily in the wide green eyes of the boy in front of him.

Nagisa watched the videos play on the screen in front of them, the quality so impressive he was sure the image wouldn't have been anymore clean and clear had he been there. Of course, he had seen better technology, namely Ritsu, whom had been just as much a member of their assassination classroom as anyone else, so the shock at seeing such advancements was little to none.  
He squinted, looking closer.

“There.’’ He jabbed a finger at the screen “Eraserhead let up for a moment there. It was so quick the villain didn't even notice - it was just a single flame - but he has to keep his eyes open to keep someone else from using their power. I could go longer than that without blinking; dry eye maybe?”  
“True, but it was only a moment. It's not that much of an issue.”  
“Maybe not in most situations and not this one specifically, but against someone with a speed based quirk? That split second may just give them the chance to distance themself enough to run, either away or to backup of their own. Eraserhead doesn't have the most useful quirk in solo situations anyway, not to mention his disadvantage against mutant types.”  
“Of course.” Izuku agreed as a gentle knock sounded thrice at the wooden door.

Honestly, Nagisa had been rather surprised upon entering the room, or, more accurately, All Might shrine. The room was full of the same blindingly bright colours and visage of the same person, the very same Izuku knew personally, repeatedly plastered upon any surface where it could possibly be.  
He turned to Izuku with his signature deadpan expression. As always, it was ignored.

“Boys,” the knocking on the door was Inko who had since poked her head around the door. Nagisa wished his own mother had the same motherly qualities, the soft eyes and smiling, dimpled cheeks. Wrinkles that were beginning to form of evidence of smiles and laughs rather than of scowls and grimaces. A sweet voice that did not feel as though others unbearable to listen to, little more than a façade, an homage to the wonderful mother she just might have been had he been born her daughter. Sure, he had since spoken to his mother, forced her to accept his existence, but he couldn't force her to be happy or proud or welcoming.

“isa-Nagisa?” He was pulled back into reality by a soft call of his name.   
“oh! Sorry Mrs. Midoriya.”  
“Inko.” she corrected again “I was just asking if you would like some hot cocoa?”  
“I'd love some.”  
“Alright. By the way, Izuku mentioned you weren't from around here… do you not have any belongings with you?”

That was the first time he realised he didn't. The voice had equipped him with knowledge and understanding of the world he was in but had given him no.material possessions, not those from his house or entirely new ones, merely just what he had on his back at the time.

“No…”  
She smiled again and Nagisa pretended he didn't see the trace of pity “Well, that can be fixed tomorrow. We have a few spares of things that you're welcome to.”

Izuku grinned at his new friend and mother. Sure, he had felt awful a lot of the time when he was growing up, he had felt useless because he had been told he was useless, but it had never once been the fault of his mother. Maybe he had vague memories of being a small child recently labelled quirkless and his mother's soothing voice saying things that did not soothe him but that was not the intent behind the words and he had to acknowledge her mistake. But his mother, whenever he came home bullied and bruised, would hug him and comfort him. He wasn't useless, they were wrong. The heroes he admired would see that when he made them see that because he would win against fate and make them see it.  
Watching them talk made him proud of his mother. He couldn't quite place it, but there was something almost relieving about the way she interacted with Nagisa, almost as though he was a second son.

She slipped out of the room and gently pushed the door closed behind her. Izuku unpaused the video and brought out the most recent notebook of many. There were scorch marks everywhere and an overabundance of moisture had warped and yellowed the pages. Still, he would not forfeit the notebook, not when it, like all the others, held important information he found purpose in gathering.  
He scanned over the pages and began rambling off the information he had currently, mumbling as he tried to think of the practicality of the things he knew. He knew he was talking quickly and quietly and people struggled to understand him when he spoke in such a manner but he couldn't help it. Besides, it didn't seem to matter too majorly with the company that he was in. Nagisa, though Midoriya didn't know it, had enough experience with all manner of eccentric people to consider monotonous personalities the interesting ones and had been required to learn how to deal with all the quirks accompanying each.

 

The morning was a mild one and Izuku was up as early as he had been every day since All Might took him under his wing. He had been slightly concerned for Nagisa, whether or not the boy would go with him so early in the morning and about his ability to cope with exercise so early in the morning.  
He shouldn't have been.

Nagisa was up as soon as he was and, Izuku remembered suddenly, had proven his ability to cope at least somewhat the day before.

They jogged side by side down the partially lit streets, cast into contrast by the bright, colourful gaze of the rising Sun that only hit some corners of the world below it.  
There was a cool breeze that ruffled the pigtails Nagisa had tied up with a sense of haste and a slight bit of annoyance when he realised how close one of his hairbands seemed to be to breaking. That was just another stupid menial thing that needed replacing, much like the ruined shoes on his feet. It was hardly as if he could borrow a pair of Izuku’s as he had the shirt and shorts he was wearing. They at were certainly similar in height but their proportions carried drastically. 

Nagisa had been forced to tie the drawstring of the shorts as tight as he could to keep them around his narrow waist rather than falling to his ankles. He was slim and slender in a feminine way his mother had probably rejoiced about for years. Izuku, due to his training, was much more visibly muscular.  
The exchange of shoes would have been much worse. To accompany his stocky frame, Izuku had large feet and Hands that seemed as though they would fit the quirk he was going to receive. Nagisa still had a sort of elegance about him when it came to his appendages. Even his physical appearance appeared to be tailored to his rather unusual talent for assassination, not combat, but assassination.

So Nagisa felt the slight damp of the pavement soak into his sock and endured it as he continued to run.

They ran around the neighbourhood and back to the apartment block. They ran up the stairs and Izuku noticed just how much quieter Nagisa’s footsteps were than his own. It was interesting: in spite of the bright blue pigment of his hair and eyes and the mystery thay shrouded him like a heavy fog and the seemingly villainous nature of the quirk Izuku had yet to see him use and the way he seemed to know and that something that was so off putting about him, Nagisa was just as mild as the morning they had ran through. There was something about him that made you feel as though you would completely overlook him in a group.

What Izuku didn't know was that it was another aspect of his unsettling talent. It was one of his greatest strengths, so to speak, though not one he would readily share.

They ate a quick breakfast Inko had graciously prepared and left again.

The beach was a work in progress and said progress was taking a very long time. Still, it was progress regardless.  
When they got there, Toshinori had yet to arrive but Izuku still got straight to work as Nagisa worked his way over piles of rubbish and perched upon the old oxidized wreck of a car whose type was no longer identifiable.  
He absentmindedly twisted and old bit of glass, worn down by the waves of the sea that had eventually washed it back up on the beach, between pale, slender fingers.

Toshinori arrived about ten minutes after them.  
“Midoriya, my boy,” he grinned, skeletal face stretching “keep it up.”  
“Yes sir!”  
“Hello Nagisa.”  
“Hello sir.”  
“Any particular reason you came down with young Midoriya this morning?”  
“I was hoping to get some practice with my quirk.”  
“Well sitting on an old beat up car won't help! Come here my boy!”

Nagisa flung himself down and over the portion of the field of rubbish in front of him. He landed in front of Toshinori who changed into his All Might Form, complete with his signature heroic grin.  
“Well go on, young Nagisa.” He distantly remembered the day before when the boy had told him not to use his last name and was careful to be mindful of that request. Yagi Toshinori could be called a number of things, but spiteful and mean spirited was not one of them.  
Nagisa cocked his head.  
“No hand to hand,” All Might clarified “attack me with your quirk.” it was then that he realised he didn't know what it was he was asking to have directed at him.

It wasn't what Nagisa had wanted, a request to attack with the quirk he didn't know how to activate or control. He grimaced and winced before he watched the world dim and the edges of his vision go fuzzy.

Then a multi layered voice called out dizzyingly and his focused returned and his vision was clear and he could swear he could physically feel the cool presence of the many shadows adorning the extremely uneven surroundings.

He reached a hand forward, not sure what exactly he was doing, and watched as, with a flick of a finger and an idea filled with doubt, a whip of shadow obeyed.  
Really, it all happened in a fraction of a moment, but, as Nagisa watched on, fascinated and confused, it seemed to drag out forever.

The strand of shadow split into two, then three, four, five. The strands wove themselves together before whipping forwards faster and latching onto their target, winding around his waist and trapping him, binding him with something that had no physical form so that not even his inhuman strength could break it.  
Still not thinking, not believing, he willed another section of shadow to form into a blade, reminiscent of the blade he first held to the neck of Takaoka when he discovered his ‘gift’. True to form, he pressed it to his teacher’s neck as he was defenseless.

But All Might and Takaoka were different and the shadow around the hero was beaten by the light of the rising sun. All Might was no longer defenceless and Nagisa could feel his weapon dissipating just like his restraints.  
There was a strong blow aimed at the side of his head. He barely dodged, feeling the air blow passed him, vaguely aware a single one of his hairbands had snapped and half of his hair was now spilling over his shoulder.

A talent for assassination rather than combat didn't help him then. He hadn't utilised all the advantages of that talent from the beginning and suddenly he felt lost.  
He looked around in desperation and his mind went blank. He wasn't aware of the coaxing instructions of the multi toned voice until they were gone and he suddenly felt cold, alone, abandoned and more confused than he had to begin with.

Fleetingly, he reached forwards once again as a muscular leg came sweeping beneath him. He barely jumped in time.  
He twisted his hand and immediately wished he hadn't.

Like smog, smoke-like clouds pooled from the man's head and Nagisa could feel everything. He could feel the man's emotions overlap with his own and the horror and the torture of another difficult, unfair life mingle with that he already knew. He could see the pain on All Might’s face and feel the lurching of his gut but he wasn't sure his heart was still beating.

He held his breath, dropped his hand and stared straight up, suddenly exhausted. A shaky kick knocked him to the ground but he was too numb to notice. He kept his eyes fixed on the bright, burning sun and clenched his fists until he could feel something.  
There was a gentle stinging where his nails dug into his palm and he finally breathed again. It was unstable and wavering but it felt as though a weight had been lifted off of his chest.

He knew then that he couldn't use that aspect of his quirk, not when he could feel what they felt when he pulled the darkness from inside them, not when he was making them feel so much despair, not when he was forced to relive his own. He couldn't do that to them or himself and he was sure he could get by with just the physical aspect of darkness that his quirk gave him control over.

All Might fell to his knees as an emaciated shell of a man. He managed to calm the shaking, skeletal hands clasping at blonde hair as he looked at the boy.  
He had faced consequences of the power himself and was muttering weakly, staring straight ahead as though he himself was not aware of his own actions.

Toshinori tried very hard not to listen to his delirious ramblings but couldn't any longer when he heard “Assassination,” repeated thrice before being followed with “Mother, mother.” He shivered and did not press.

He couldn't repress the feeling that told him that it was a villainous power, a vicious, torturous, terrifying power. Still, with a bit more control, for there was something that felt very unfamiliar about the way Nagisa handled it, it could be a great aid to their cause.

But only if he kept on the right side of the cause.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any typos or just general creative critical are very much welcome.  
> -Siren_whispers


	3. Morning

Toshinori mounted the hill in silence and watched in awe as a final scrap was cleared from the beach, expanding a way past the boundary he had set for his student.  
The newly revealed sand glinted beneath the groggily shining sun of the early morning, rising proudly behind a figure, illuminating the outline of a green haired boy who was almost unrecognizable from where he began. Izuku Midoriya stood proud, sweaty and breathing with slight discomfort, but proud.

It was an emotion Toshinori shared with him at that moment.

“No Nagisa today?” the emaciated man asked a while later after some time had passed.  
“No, he went straight to Yuuei after the jog, I think he suspects I might be late.”  
“Well we can't have that now can we?” and the skeletal nature of the man's smile disappeared as his body and face shifted into one Izuku had grown up staring at, making an idol of, practically worshipping.  
“You've done it my boy!” and the voice was loud and carried on the brisk winds that disturbed his impressive hair only mildly “here!”

Izuku felt his chest tighten, his ribcage grow restricting as it felt as though the space had been diligently stuffed with all the hope and pride and anxiety and emotions he had no name for as there was room for, and then some. His eyes lit up and he stared with all the whimsy of a small child.  
And then the light faded and an odd sort of expression overtook the soft features that the rigorous training had done nothing to sharpen.  
“Eat this!” the familiar voice urged with full confidence, a lock of blonde clasped between two fingers.

“What?” Izuku couldn't take his eyes off of the strand despite wanting to desperately.  
“That's how the power is transferred?”  
“Through DNA,” All Might clarified, confidence unwavering.  
“Why hair? Why why why why why…” Izuku mumbled as the hair was transferred from hand to hand before being tentatively placed in his mouth. He screwed up his nose and didn't even try to chew as he swallowed. He coughed and gasped and begged and prayed for water. He could feel each individual strand making swipes at his oesophagus and tried his best to regain his composure in spite of it.

 

When he got to Yuuei, he couldn't locate Nagisa immediately. While the other boy had sworn to him over text only moment before that he was by the entrance, he had been drowned in the sea of evermoving, restless hopefuls. Another step made Izuku one of them  
He couldn't hear much distinctly, the surrounding chatter all merging into one conglomerate of words that did not exist and sentences that meant nothing. So, he turned to his thoughts for distraction and found himself grinning as he kept his eyes fixed ahead, straight ahead at the top of a head of blue hair. He could finally see Nagisa, leaning against the doorway and looking tiny and insignificant in the infinite bustle if the crowds around him he had purposely removed himself from.

Izuku pushed on, well aware that this was it. He was finally there and he might - No! He was the protege of All Might and he dreamed of nothing else! He would - get into the grand, famous academy that stood tall and imposing before him. He stared at it.  
And suddenly it began to move, shifting upwards in his sight as though his vision was lowering and he was confused for a mere fraction of a second before he felt a tightness in his chest much different to the earlier one. Or - he thought - I could just die. But then the approach of the rapidly rising ground was stopped - he never did fall, just stared at the worn pavement for a moment before regaining his composure and looking around in confusion. 

It soon became evident who was responsible. There was a girl beside him, shorter than himself and pretty in a sort of childlike way - he supposed cute may be a more fitting word. Her hair was cut at her chin and her entire being seemed to be made up of gentle curves as though there wasn't a single harsh edge on her. There was a permanent blush on round cheeks that dimpled with the bright smile she flashed as her eyes glittered with what may have been a trace of nervousness.

She hopped back “Oh! Sorry! I probably shouldn't have used my quirk on you without permission - I just figured it'd be bad luck to fall before the exam…” she was speaking with an odd mix of ease and discomfort while the only thought passing across Izuku’s mind was the fact that a girl was talking to him.  
“Well,’ she waved with another smile “I hope to see you in the heroics dept!”  
He numbly waved back as his senses somewhat returned and he noticed Nagisa watching with a mocking smile on his face. He wasn't sure if Nagisa had heard the conversation but he'd definitely seen how red Izuku's freckled cheeks became.

Izuku walked over to the other boy, trapped somewhere between his blissful daydream and the reality of fast moving students of all manner of extremities passing him as though he wasn't there. Well, it was hardly as though he was ever perceived as the most stand out character.  
He stepped up to the entrance and felt a euphoric fluttering feeling inflate his being; it was like he was about to float yet also about to choke on the butterflies that flew up his throat at the same time. He stepped over to Nagisa who greeted him with a small smile that seemed only to make his face appear to be more feminine.  
He was dressed simply and casually in new, clean clothes rather than the tattered, stained ones he had worn when he had arrived. There were two hairbands securing his hair once again, two spares around his wrist and a couple more sitting deep in the pockets of the cargo trousers he wore.  
“Hi.” He waved.  
“Hi yourself.” Izuku spoke with a distinctive edge to his voice. Nagisa didn't think he could possibly have been any easier to read.  
“You're nervous?” it was spoken with the lilt of a question but it wasn't really one at all.  
“But excited.” Wide, round green eyes fluttered over the the grand modern building before landing on the crowds flocking to it and finally settling back on the boy across from him. “You?”  
“I'm ready.” He nodded and smile. Izuku smiled back.

“Oi, Deku!” it was a familiar voice and Izuku shrunk back when he heard it booming from somewhere in the crowd. Not sure what else his options were, he stood there until he saw that distinctive head of spiked blonde hair appear and approach.   
“I don't know what you're playing at but I'm the one that's gonna be a hero here! It'll be me and only me, you hear?!” and he was seething, almost as if smoke was curling out of his ears and flared nostrils.  
“I'm not competing against you…” Izuku muttered to himself as he angles his face down and let his eyes flick back so he could catch Nagisa in his periphery.  
“What was that, shitty nerd?” there was nothing calm or pleasant about his demeanour. There was nothing comforting or friendly about it. He didn't seem like the hero type.  
“Nothing Kacchan…” his voice trailed off.  
“That's what I thought.” the harsh voice was smug.  
“Oi, Deku, who's the girl?” Nagisa noted the boys eyes flicking to meet his own before trailing him with what looked almost like contempt. How unwarranted was such a glance?  
Nagisa grit his teeth at being called a girl. He had learnt by then to ignore it for the most part but it was never pleasant. Still, he had to wonder if he would be so easily mistaken for a girl had it not been for his mother?  
He shook his head gently and the blonde boy seemed to mistake it for a nervous tremor he was attempting to shake off.  
“Well?” he took a striding step closer and his hand went up in flames that left with a bang. It was a small explosion and it was certainly lucky it was.  
“N-n-n-” Izuku was stuttering so much he couldn't force the words out and Nagisa was more than prepared and accustomed to standing there and forcing his mind to wander elsewhere as their words hit the walls he had raised around himself. 

But there was a word that brought those walls crashing to the ground.

“Come on shitty nerd!” the voice raised and the explosions became present upon both hands in much greater magnitude. “I'll kill you!”   
And Izuku shrunk.

But there it was.  
The walls crumbled into a haphazard pile of bricks as a sort of angelic smile spread across Nagisa’s face.

“Kill?” he asked and Izuku though he really did sound like a girl at that second but couldn't focus on that when everything seemed so nonscencial. Why would he speak of a death threat like he did?

“Yeah, of course Kill!” but even Bakugou Katsuki looked uncomfortable as Nagisa just smiled sweetly. But he made no move to retreat as the other boy slowly made his way forwards.

Then everything moved too quickly for Izuku's eyes to keep up with. It was like he blinked and then his grasp on the situation disappeared.

One second Nagisa was smiling sweetly and walking nonchalantly towards Bakugou in a way Izuku could not comprehend. The next he was next to Bakugou and in control of the situation. Bakugou even went so far as to look confused as he tried to stare anywhere but Nagisa’s still smiling face or the pale fingers and well manicured nails that pointed threateningly and precisely at a spot on his neck. Izuku could see his breathing.  
He could feel the same spot of his own neck pulse with a cold sort of numbness. He knew then, as he ran a smooth hand over smooth skin, that Nagisa was definitely aiming his finger with purpose and knowledge. He gulped.

“Nagisa!” Izuku called as his mind, after a moment, caught up to his eyes.  
Like that, Nagisa stepped back and he was calm. He twisted a spare hairbands between nimble fingers in what Izuku could only interpret as apprehension. His pale blue eyes found a place on the school as he coaxed Izuku forwards by gently leading him by the wrist. Still excited, almost like a puppy, Izuku had no qualms about following along.

“Now wait a fucking minute!” and Bakugou was back to normal in the blink of an eye “Where do you think you're going?!” and he briskly moved up besides them and walked with them. Nagisa walked on the outside and Izuku shrunk down nervously besides his childhood friend.

All three of the boys sat side by side in the hall, seated with a multitude of other hopeful prospective students. There was a man addressing them loudly in an upbeat tone of voice. He was blonde and thin but not like All Might at all. He never seemed to stop smiling and was dressed as something between a stereotypical DJ and a superhero.  
“Welcome all to my live show! Everybody say ‘hey!’” he held a hand to his head, cupped as though to indicate him listening.

The hall lapsed into a deathly silence.

“I'm gonna give you a rundown!” the man declared as his actions began to closely mimic that of the same DJ as his clothing did. “Are you ready?” and, again, it was as though he were speaking to a hall of ghosts as he failed to elicit a reply.

But, regardless, Izuku was shaking. He pressed his hands to his face, over the mouth that had split into a wide smile, and began to fanboy as though a switch had been flipped on.  
“Oh my God! It's the voice hero ‘Present Mic! I listen to him on the radio all the time!”  
“Shut up.” Bakugou instructed sharply as Nagisa just looked over and chuckled slightly.

“Now pay close attention,” the voice was animated by what should have been grossly falsified enthusiasm but seemed almost like a personality trait coming from him “We'll be testing you by having you do 10 minutes of practice at our replica city district!” He waved his long arms “take what you like and gather at the designated spots after the presentation!”

“Designated spots, huh?” and, for once, Bakugou was speaking in an almost civil way. Nagisa turned to look at him. “I guess they don't plan on letting friends and classmates cooperate.”  
“They gave us numbers for the seats but I guess the actual exam is elsewhere…” Izuku's head turned and he began to speak at that usual familiar tempo.  
“Don't fucking look at me!” Bakugou grit his teeth. Of course - Nagisa though - that made more sense. The blue haired boy sighed and laid his eyes to rest on the grey fabric of his trainers.

Bakugou clicked his tongue bitterly “I bet it's just set up like that so I can't crush you.”

Present Mic then explained the premise for the physical exam and Izuku kept mumbling and Bakugou remained sour while Nagisa just listened intently and tried to figure out a strategy as early as he possibly could.

“Excuse me, may I please ask a question?” a loud voice called from amidst the crowd, from the place in which a sudden major movement could be seen amongst the primarily still crowd. He asked about the villains described in Present Mic’s briefing, comparing the man’s words to those on the pamphlet he held beside his head and gestured rigidly towards with an excess of purpose. There was a discrepancy between the two the boy made clear he could think of exclusively as a major embarrassment to an establishment such as the one in which they were currently positioned. 

“Moreover,” he began again, neither his words nor actions losing any degree of their pointedness “You, with the curly hair-” Izuku froze and pointed to himself, shocked “Can you not sit still and be quiet for even a second?” Izuku heavily settled himself in place, feet perfectly placed shoulder width apart with balled fists placed on knees “And stop the muttering,” even though there was no way it was possible, his words sounded almost rehearsed “You're distracting. If you don't intend to take this exam seriously, please leave at once.”

Izuku slapped his hands over his mouth, feet still firmly planted, and muttered a dejected apology. Nagisa looked at all the sniggering people around them, glaring even though they couldn't see him.

“Okay!” the over enthusiastic voice of Present Mic chimed “thank you, examinee 7111, the link into the next topic at hand is much appreciated. The fourth type of villain you'll encounter is worth 0 points, consider them arena traps. Have any of you ever played retro video games? Sometimes you'll come across enemies of the same nature as these villains.”

The crowd dissolved into murmurs of contemplation as one loud, clear voice called confidently over it “Thank you very much. I apologise for being rude.”

“Good! Now let's get to the main event! PLUS ULTRA!” Izuku blissfully heard the school catchphrase roll off the man’s tongue and revelled in the idea that that catchphrase may soon be his school's.

Izuku stood there, lost in a crowd of people who were either talking with animated awe or silently planning when they saw the scene before them.  
It was huge and intricate and many had a hard time believing it was a mere replica. There were twisting, winding streets and straight paths and high rise buildings that stretched up to the sky far above them.  
He was beyond nervous, the apparent confidence and ease of those around him only worsening the situation.  
He couldn't keep his eyes focused on a single spot, he turned his head and flicked his eyes this way and that until he caught a familiar face in his periphery.  
It was the girl from earlier and it seemed as though she too had been assigned to that area. Sure, he wished Nagisa had been there as well, but no such luck. Still, he supposed it was only right he went over to thank her for earlier.

He went to move and was stopped by the arrival of another semi-familiar face.  
“I see what you're up to,” the boy declared, though Izuku very much doubted he did “You're trying to test the limits of that girl's concentration!” and then there was a hand on his shoulder that kept him rooted in place with no chance of avoiding an awkward conversation he was not willing to partake in.  
“Who exactly are you?” he asked and Izuku felt a pit form in his stomach “you didn't come to obstruct your fellow examinees did You?”

Izuku wanted so badly to protest the falsity of the statement but any courage he may have had was quickly swept away by the snickers and whispers that filled the crowd around them.  
“Is that the kid who has been acting like a weirdo since he got here?”  
“The one that's been shaking in his boots since before the front gate!” Izuku shuffled his feet and realised with a disappointed sigh all those people believed they were lucky to have him as an opponent.

 

In another replica city a little while away, Bakugou was fuming. It was just his luck to have been landed in the same field as that blue haired brat that had been speaking to Izuku.  
What was worse was how unfazed he seemed. There were those around him who were muttering and fretting just a little but it was like he was made of steel. His short figure stood strong and confident, gazing out at the city as though unfazed.

Bakugou refused to be bested by this brat or anyone else!

The claxon sounded.


	4. Rising

Everyone sprinted as fast as their own limits would allow the second they heard that claxon, almost a network of people seemingly joined in some way or another. But the only connecting factor shared by all those children who ran was an unrelenting desire to prove themselves.

Bakugou was furious at everyone else around him, all lowly, worthless idiots believing they were worthy of standing on the same pedestal as him. He bit down as he ran and charged at every robot he could see, soon attaining a 100% success rate, as the network split into smaller sections. He had lost Nagisa not too long before, the blue suddenly disappearing behind much taller people and then just never appearing again.

Meanwhile, Nagisa scuttled up a rickety replica fire escape. The term replica suddenly became operative.  
The fire escape was unstable and, towards the top, only got worse. It was so bad that a few stairs were, in fact, entirely absent. He doubted it was an issue with the school budget, if it was they wouldn't have included the thing in the first place. In fact, he suspected he knew exactly what it was: a ruse.  
A ruse set in place to make students think they could gain such an advantage as the fire escape seemed to propose was understandable if slightly cruel. It would force students to show they could overcome a problem.

Too bad for the board of Yuuei that Nagisa didn't see it as one at all.

He could have scaled the wall if he tried hard enough but it would take more time than he had, so the fire escape, with all its faults and flaws, was perfect.  
He raced up those rickety steps as though he was being chased by anything other than the ticking of the clock and barely even took time to pause as he flung himself upwards, over the space where steps were missing, and used his arms to haul himself up.

There was nothing peaceful or pretty about that fake city from above but there was a freedom to being able to see everything as it stretched on, coming to abrupt ends. He watched a few robots fall before locating one close by.  
He stared out at it and extended his hand, mostly just so the examiners knew the robot had fallen at his hands. He used the shadows between the metallic sections and quickly tied them into a sort of binding to hold the steel beast down and jam its joints.

From inside Yuuei, a number of teachers stared at the noniters before them, vaguely awed as they replayed the exam footage so they could focus on each and every individual.  
They looked at each students footage one by one, each teacher assigned a small group to watch.

Some of the more interesting shows were those performed by three boys.

The first was blonde and fairly tall, he was confident and nonplussed by the high general stress levels all about him. He was hot headed and violent and selfish but he had a powerful quirk and he knew how to use it. He raked in points and got an objectively excellent score, even with a total absence of rescue points 

The second was almost the opposite. He was short with dark hair and rather plain looking. He was a stuttering, mumbling mess before and during the exam and just couldn't seem to catch a break in terms of villain points. But then he had seen that girl, one whom had raked in her own fair share of points, and someone else had taken over. Gone was that nervous wreck, in his place standing someone who acted without thinking and rushed the villain that would not give him points. He took down that villain single handedly at the cost of his own limbs and didn't seem to think twice about it. He was getting by on all rescue points and no villain points 

The third boy was just generally an interesting candidate. All Might himself had pushed the boy’s application towards the school and, at first, they had to wonder why. He wasn't anything special to look at, he was quite frankly tiny and he looked like the sort of person a villain would choose as the most vulnerable target in a crowd. He had little muscle definition, a soft face, soft eyes and a slender, feminine frame.  
Despite his unassuming appearance, he surprised them. The second the claxon sounded he seemed to have a plan as he made to run up that tricky fire escape of theirs. At first, the hero examining him felt sorry for him, though that sympathy was soon exchanged for surprise as he ran in such a way that the slippery, loose stairs stayed as put together as they had ever been. He wasn't even fazed about the gaps, he just kept on going until he was watching everything happening below him and thinking of how to act. He reached out a hand and his pupils dilated, becoming almost reptilian for a split second, as the robot he seemed to be aiming at suddenly fell, wound up in a dark material that quickly dissipated. The pattern repeated over and over again, intermittently being disrupted by shadows stretching to help other candidates: picking up debris and allowing then escape, pushing falling villains and rubble away from those it may crush, nudging applicants out of the way of imminent danger.  
By the end if it the boy had gathered a number of points, seeming decently worn out by use of a darkness-orientated quirk in such a brightly lit environment as the one in which they had placed him.

The end came and the first of the three boys grinned smugly as he mentally tallied his points and examined the destruction he had caused. He gently hit his hands against one another, a final explosion going off in an almost celebratory manner.

The second boy was very much unconscious, sprawled out against the cold ground, ready for a quick, quirk based treatment to rectify his broken, mangled, purple, bruised limbs that dangled from his body like they were little more than an afterthought in the mind of the one who had pieced together the image.

The third panted a little as he stood and stretched and wiped the sweat from his head with a faintly shaking hand. He glanced tiredly down at the fire escape he had climbed and waited at the top for a moment more. He greedily sucked in air through parted lips before righting his posture. He then jumped, swinging his way down in a manner that certainly was never intended of any fire escape, reaching the ground quickly and rejoining the mass of students.

Nagisa seated himself heavily on the stairs of Yuuei after the majority of the applicants had rushed by, eager to get home as the gleamed with hope or futilely tried to swallow rising wails. He was trying with all of his effort to push down his rising nausea and suppress the incessant, dizzying pounding in his head. He rested his chin on his hand as he tried to examine his sharp nails, watching the sun grow lower in the sky in his blurred periphery, while waiting for the only friend he had in this strange universe to join him. He was glad initially for the excuse to take a seat, his knees had began wobbling after he had spent a while standing on them and he had feared for his life when he stupidly flung himself down that fire escape because his arms were not much better, but he got worried after a short while.

Win he did see Izuku again he had to admit the other boy was a mess. He did not seem all too happy not too hesitant to tell Nagisa why.  
“I think I managed to get by with a decent score on the written exam,” he began. Nagisa thought back to said test, glad for all of Korosensei’s teachings and the knowledge from that weird, multi-toned, inhuman voice “but that stands for nothing with that goose egg score I got on the practical.”   
Nagisa felt his heart sink a little bit. He knew Izuku would get nothing but abuse from his classmates when they found out about such a fact as that one and he knew better than anyone what that was like.  
“so…” Nagisa began after a few minutes of walking in silence only accompanied by the indistinct trails of nearby conversations and their own footsteps - or, rather, just Izuku’s - “Care to tell me what actually happened?” Nagisa listened in silence, not wanting to tell Izuku about his own successes and trying to ignore the way the world still swam a little as a result of him overusing his quirk. He wondered faintly how his friends from his assassination classroom would have fared.

In fact, he wondered how they would have been altered to suit the new world he'd been dumped into.  
He wondered what their quirks would be; would they be tailored to suit them?  
Would Karma’s be as brazen and overtly dangerous as him?  
Would Maehara’s be as flashy and attractive as he? The sort of power that was enough to attract friends in spite of all other misgivings?  
Would Kayano’s be as deceptive as she had turned out to be? Unassuming at first, seemingly good for a good cause but not dangerous or very powerful, but then revealing itself to be so much more?  
Would Isogai’s be perfect at a glance and even a stare? Would a thorough examination reveal a single downfall that dragged it down?

Nagisa wondered but supposed he would never know.

Before long they had reached the Midoriya residence once again. Before a rather downtrodden Izuku could even place a hand on the door handle, the door was flung open. Inko Midoriya came rushing out of It, encircling her son in a hug before breathlessly asking how the day went. Before they answered, the boys were let inside.  
“Hello mum.” Izuku greeted. Inko immediately noticed hos saddened tone.  
“Hello Inko.” Nagisa greeted. He had had it drilled into him so many times that the kind woman would not accept him addressing her formally. 

So they sat down in a warm, cosy living room and talked about their day. Izuku went first, he tried to sound at least somewhat upbeat, like he wasn't that sad about the fact he felt as though his lifelong dream had been violently pulled away from him, but he also didn't sound upbeat and that was not his goal. Afterall, he knew it was hopeless.  
Still, this wasn't just a day for him. It was for Nagisa too and he had yet to hear how his exam went. He didn't want to make the other boy feel guilty if he had done well, so he forced down his disappointment and sent Nagisa a weak, wavering smile.  
“How did your exam go?” he asked politely after he had shared the story of his own clear failure.

Nagisa had been dreading the moment he was asked. He didn't want to make Izuku feel bad but he didn't see any way around it. For once, thanks to all the mental and physical training from his assassination classroom, he was somewhat confident in his success in a test.  
“I think I got by with the written test well enough,” he began. Izuku looked at him in intrigue, hoping their practical experiences weren't similar and wanting all the best for his friend.  
“I felt kinda sick after the practical,” he admitted, sky blue eyes farting to the side to avoid Izuku “but the test itself…”  
“Well?” Inko rested her elbows on her knees and leant forwards.  
“It went well…” Nagisa licked his chapped lips and moved his eyes from a random spot on the wall to Inko “I think. I might have wasted some time in the beginning,” he admitted, hindsight kicking in “but I'm not sure whether or not I would have been able to get by without that vantage point,” he wrung his hands as he finally looked back at Izuku, both friends shifting in their seats “Not that I expected them to be as mean as they were,” he stopped talking there, instead gazing contemplatively at the hard floor, faintly cold-feeling through his socks.  
“Mean?” Izuku was intrigued. He didn't really think of the test itself as mean, more like necessary, even if his own hadn't gone as well as he had hoped.  
“Mmm,” Nagisa made eye contact and nodded, proceeding to quietly hum a tune Izuku did not recognise for a moment before he spoke again “I guess that's the right word. They could have just left out the detail if they were gonna set up a fire escape they didn't want anyone to climb!”  
“Why would they do that?” Inko asked softly. Nagisa knew his own mother would have seen it for what it was, another layer to the test designed to weed out the week, almost a trap of sorts.  
So he told Inko exactly that “a trap,” he answered softly “after all, if anyone came up with that idea and then couldn't go through with it they'd have to adapt to the situation and be quick about it. Besides, that would have been a pretty major vantage point, perhaps not accessible to most unless their quirk accommodates for it,”  
“Still mean,” Inko added  
“true,” Nagisa admitted  
“So what did you do?” Izuku leant forwards in his chair, suddenly feeling as though he were on the verge of being relayed important information about his somewhat enigmatic companion that he would rather like to make a note of.  
“I went up the fire escape.” he shrugged lackadaisically.  
“But you just said that was impossible?” Inko leant on the arm of her chair, resting her chin in her hand and glancing over at the blue-haired boy who had began to shake his head, smiling slightly.  
“Not at all,” he admonished “I said that they had tried to make it so.”  
“Meaning?” Izuku had drawn his notebook and a pen which he was eagerly tapping on the lined paper.  
Nagisa chuckled “They skipped a few steps, made the framework dangerously unstable. If you can climb well you can get past it.”  
“Well…” Izuku repeated, supposing Nagisa’s definition of the word differed from his own “sure…”  
“I got to the top of the building and I could see exactly what was happening over a large part of the grounds. I could do a lot from there - damn near fell on the way down though. I got to sit for most of it, I guess I didn't realise just how much energy I was exerting until I was seeing spots and wasn't sure when I had gotten back to the ground…”  
“But you were good!” Izuku insisted “You'll be fine!”  
“thanks,” Nagisa smiled, silently wishing he had a similar message he could say to his friend whose eyes were hovering somewhere between the ground and his notebook, absent.

Nagisa sighed and politely excused himself, the dizziness lingering and his desire for rest overwhelming. He practically collapsed onto the bed, still dressed, hair up, on top of the duvet.

A few days later, seemingly all too soon, two envelopes arrived at the door, a different name written nearly upon each one.

Up until that point, neither Nagisa nor Izuku had spoken another word about the exam. It had disappeared from conversation as though it had never even happened and neither boy showed any sort of reluctance in omitting it from their speech. Until those letters came.  
It was clear what they were from the second they arrived and both boys looked down on them, sitting oh-so-innocently on the doormat, with different looks of reluctance.  
Nagisa could feel his heart pounding and his hands shaking as he bent down to pick it up. He may have been a trained assassin buy all thought of that was gone at that moment. For a moment, he was an apprehensive child, caught somewhere between fear and excitement. He quite liked moments like that, when it felt like he was swimming in the normalcy that had been violently torn from him over the past year, but he also couldn't have asked for anything more and would certainly never forfeit those memories.  
Izuku was, in a word, anxious. In two: absolutely terrified. In three: certain of failure. Still, he too crouched and picked up the envelope.

Together they moved into the living room to meet an Inko whose face was split with a wide, excited smile that could easily light up a dark room. They grinned back shakily.  
“Well go on!” she urged, seeing neither boy made a move to open the letter.  
“ummm, if it's okay” Izuku began, wringing his hands “can we open these in my room?”  
“Of course.” They made a three-way exchange of kind, polite smiles.  
To Nagisa, it was bitter sweet. If it was his mum she would have raced to the door before he got the chance and torn open the letter from the school that rejected her and either rejoiced as she watched her dreams (not his, never his) finally come true, or berated him in every way she could as he pretended not to care about everything; her violence, his rejection, her absolute hypocrisy, he could anticipate every last bit of it.  
He shivered and unknowingly crumpled his letter slightly. Inko noticed the action as he left the room, eyes flitting quickly to his hand. She narrowed her eyes.

Izuku insisted Nagisa should be the first to open the letter and so, with a final deep breath and lingering moment of hesitation, he tore it open.  
Suddenly, an image popped up. There was no written letter, rather a large hologram of a very familiar man with a wide smile and comic-book features.  
“Nagisa, my boy!” He began as he did with all conversations. He didn't take too long to get to the results and continued in afterwards, but Nagisa didn't hear anything after the announcement. He got in.  
He got in.  
He got in!  
He stared forwards dumbly until the his place on the results table from the practical popped up and Izuku watched his eyes widen and face explode into a myriad of emotions that soon died, leaving Nagisa looking as though he had short circuited.  
Izuku had the strange urge to laugh at his friend’s face but then saw the cause of the expression and mirrored it.  
1st place.  
Nagisa Shiota, 1st place.  
In his delighted surprise, there was something about that board that Izuku missed - there were two separate categories for points.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm sorry it's been so long. I've just been busy. Also, as far as errors go, there may be a number as this was written on my phone. Creative criticism is always welcome.


	5. Daylight

Izuku felt himself tugged back to reality none too gently when Nagisa recovered from his own shock enough to push Izuku to open his own letter. He didn't want to, didn't want his suspicions to be irreversibly confirmed, didn't want his quickly disappearing dream to fizzle out entirely. But he had to. Time wouldn't stop for him and he couldn't reverse it either. So he had to let events take their course and break the seal on the envelope.  
He watched the familiar face of All Might appear again, still all smiles and enthusiasm. Though he had no desire to, Izuku listened to the words All Might spoke, completely unaware of Nagisa listening intently from behind him.  
The projected image shifted from All Might to a familiar teenager.  
“Ah! The girl from the exam!” Nagisa gently put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder as he leant forwards. They watched as the girl tried to share her points with Izuku, attempting to push him into the heroics course.  
Then something else happened. It turned out there was no need because there was a hidden side to the exam. There had been two ways of earning points and the exam board had chosen not to share one of them. 

Izuku had gotten in with a high quantity of rescue points.

He'd done it.

His dream hadn't ended.

He didn’t even register Nagisa flinging his arms around him and saying, in perfect unison with the recording “Yuuei is now your hero academia!”

The next night they met up with All Might at the newly clean beach.  
All rationality gone from his mind, Izuku excitedly called “All Might!” to the emaciated frame of Toshinori Yagi. From a little distance away, a group of people turned around to see, confused when they didn't see the hero there. Nagisa was too amused and still too dazed at the outcome of the exam to chide his friend for his moment of stupidity.

“I mistook him for someone else!” Izuku hurriedly called back, quickly growing bright red. Nagisa failed to stifle a giggle, only prompted to laugh harder when Izuku sent him a mildly disapproving glance that honestly had very little irritation behind it.

“Congratulations on getting in,” Toshinori smiled as he neared the boys “I'm afraid, Nagisa, that the school had to be aware of our contact as I needed to recommend you as a late candidate,” Nagisa hang his head and looked at his already scuffed trainers “but I can assure you your achievement is entirely your own - no sort of involvement with a hero would get you boosted to the top of the scoreboard.” Nagisa raised his head again and met the hero with a soft smile.  
“Midoriya, the school had no knowledge of our contact so their judgement was not impacted at all,” Izuku beamed bright enough to outshine the sun and Toshinori could not stop himself from joining.

However, he couldn't help but to dampen the mood somewhat as, inevitably, the topic turned to why Izuku couldn't handle the power he had been given without his body breaking.  
“That's not unexpected,” Toshinori explained “anyone gaining a new quirk would struggle to control it,” Nagisa may have thought that untrue were he to think only of the physical aspect of his quirk but he was suddenly struck with the recent memory of attempting to use the other side of his quirk. He shuddered as he felt a slight twinge of the pain it had caused him, like a physical manifestation of all the suffering in both his life and Toshinori’s he had caused to resurface before he and his quirk had shut down. And, with that, he admitted that Toshinori was 100% correct.  
“Eventually,” Toshinori continued “You will be able to use it fully and safely.”

A while later the boys were affronted with the reality of their first day at Yuuei. Nagisa was excited and at least somewhat confident his precious assassination classroom had prepared him at least somewhat for what was to come. Izuku was just as excited but, at the same time, something of a nervous wreck, though, of course, his mother was more so.

“Have you boys got tissues?”  
“Yes mum,”  
“Yes Inko,”  
“Do you have all of your things?”  
“Of course Mum,”  
“Of course Inko,”  
“We gotta hurry,”  
“Izuku, Nagisa,”  
“Yeah?” the boys spoke in perfect unison   
“You look incredible right now,” Inko smiled brightly as she looked at her son and the boy she had known for only a few months but already felt as though she would consider like a second child. They both wore their new Yuuei uniforms, the light grey blazers with the emerald green accents (which Nagisa wore unfastened), the red ties (though Izuku’s was tied somewhat incorrectly), and the neat, new trousers. The shoes on their feet were the same as those they always wore, Izuku's big, bright crimson shoes a prominent part of his attire while Nagisa’s once-white canvas trainers that were already scuffed and muddied to the point at which they were beginning to mimic his old ones that he defiantly refused to get rid of, faded into the background of his. 

“See you soon Mum,” Izuku pushed open their front door.  
“Have a good day Inko,” Nagisa smiled politely as he adjusted his backpack and walked out of the door. Inko saw him gently tug at his left pigtail to tighten it before closing the door behind himself and locking the door with his own key. Inko remembered when she had given the blue haired boy that key. There had been a happy breed of disbelief on his soft face that added another tally onto her list of reasons to want to ask about his family - what teenager was so surprised to be given a key to the place they were living in?

Izuku and Nagisa spoke casually until they saw the school looming over head. At last they could say it was their school. They passed the security measures of the academy and were met with empty halls.  
“One A, one A,” Izuku repeated as they passed through the corridors at a brisk jog.  
“This school is huge,” Nagisa commented “But I guess it beats that godforsaken mountain,” he tugged at his hair apprehensively and Izuku watched it slip slightly from its holdings. 

They stopped not a moment after.  
“Woah,” Izuku tilted his head back to look at the clearly labelled door before them.   
“And I thought the school itself was big,” Nagisa pushed an impressed whistle through his lips while Izuku found himself lost in thoughts.  
We’ll be with everyone else who passed the exam, he thought, if only those two ended up in 1B. An image of Katsuki and the stern, somewhat impolite boy from the exam came to mind, both with appearances warped in a way that caused them to resemble demons or delinquents in some way or another.

Nagisa could not see what Izuku was thinking but it was evident he was lost in his head. So, wordlessly, he sidled up between Izuku and the gargantuan door and pushed it open.  
It was then that Izuku regained his bearings, finding himself back in the moment, suddenly unsure as to when the grand door to his future had opened. He blinked rapidly as he stared blankly ahead until Nagisa jabbed him in the rib with his sharp, bony elbow.  
“Ow!”  
Nagisa ignored him and took his first step into the classroom that Izuku was seeing properly for the first time.

The first thing he saw was the two people he had wanted not to see, standing beside each other, engaged in a heated argument about Katsuki’s conduct and manners. The hot headed boy refused to remove his feet from the table and the bespectacled boy beside him looked about ready to implode.

“I am Tenya Iida from Somei middle,” the boy from the entrance exam introduced in response to a question Katsuki had asked before Izuku had entered the room.  
“Somei?” Katsuki scoffed “So you're an elite? All the more reason for me to kill you!”  
While the newly named Tenya questioned Katsuki’s aspiration as a hero, Izuku grabbed Nagisa by the shoulder. He didn't know why and he was frankly too scared to ask, but he had figured out that the word “kill” flipped a switch in Nagisa. When he heard it he turned into another person; violent might not be the right word to describe him, he didn't turn into Katsuki by any stretch of the imagination, but he radiated this air that made you want to shrink away. Izuku didn't have a word for it but he didn't want their new class to be faced with it. Toshinori had also seen it happen a few times but he actually had a name for it - though not one he would readily share with Izuku - he would go so far as to call it bloodlust.

Then Tenya’s eye caught Izuku and Nagisa hovering by the door. He walked over.  
“Hello, I'm Tenya Iida from Somei,”  
“Yeah, I, umm, well I overhead. I'm Izuku Midoriya,”  
“Nagisa,” he nodded politely, thankfully having managed to suppress his reaction to that alarm word.   
“Nice to meet you,” both Izuku and Nagisa said at the same time.   
“I must congratulate you Izuku, you figured out the true nature of the exam, didn't you?” he moved in such a way that he seemed very close to robotic “I was blind to it,” he sounded so deeply disappointed in himself that it was difficult to figure out how to respond “I'm truly sorry, I misread you completely!”  
“Ah, no, no. It's fine. I didn't really figure it out either,” Izuku waved his hands in a vague placating movement.

“Deku,” a voice spoke lowly from off to the side as Katsuki thought bitterly about when he had found out about Izuku’s miraculous acceptance into the top hero programme in the nation. 

The door slid open behind Izuku, startling him almost as much as the soft, sweet, mildly surprised voice that followed it  
“Ah! It's you! The kid with the curly hair!” and, sure enough, the nice girl from the exam he had seen trying to give him some of her points, walked around him to stand in front of him. She beamed and waved.  
“I'm glad I found you,” she wore the same blazer, shirt and tie as the boys but the trousers had been exchanged for a neatly pleated skirt of the same colour that fell at mid thigh.  
It was undeniable, the girl was cute.

“Well done!” she was just like an excited puppy which, to an increasingly red Izuku, made her all the cuter “You made it! Just like Present Mic promised! I guess it's not that much of a surprise, that was quite the punch!”  
Izuku was too red and flustered to form a coherent sentence and, as he attempted to stutter a response to no avail, Nagisa found himself chuckling uncontrollably at Izuku’s expense when the plain boy was incapable of defending himself.  
“I wonder what we'll be doing today?” the girl asked “an entrance ceremony? Maybe we'll get to meet the teachers?”  
From behind her, a tired, permanently pissed off voice spoke “If you wanna make friends go do it elsewhere.” they turned around and weren't quite sure how to respond.  
Behind them, lying on the floor, was a bright yellow sleeping bag with a face poking out. There was long, messy hair falling over the face that looked as though it hadn't slept in years with dark circles and unkempt facial hair.  
They stared.  
“This,” the man began again ‘Is the department,” his tired voice grew louder and hoarser with every syllable “of HEROICS!”

A mutter settled across the classroom, the subject of every micro-conversation being the same: who the hell was this guy?

He crawled out of his sleeping bag to reveal a thin frame dressed in black with what appeared to be bandages wrapped loosely around his neck.  
“Our teacher?” Izuku mused “he must be a pro hero as well but I don't recognise him, he looks kinda washed up… Nagisa do you…?”  
The layered voice in Nagisa’s head spoke to him.  
“Eraserhead, I think,” he responded, knowing full well that he was more sure than he indicated.  
“He’s eraserhead?! Well, I guess it's not like I've seen any recent clips…”

“I'm Shouta Aizawa, your homeroom teacher” he introduced. He gave the students no time to question him before he dug something out of his sleeping bag “put these on immediately then meet me on the PE grounds.”

They did exactly that, their class joining back up on the wide open space after each of them was dressed in their school-issued sports wear. Nagisa awkwardly adjusted the collar of his outfit, there was something about the situation that was making him apprehensive.  
“Hello again class,” Aizawa addressed them “today we have a quirk apprehension test,”  
“Quirk apprehension test?!” the entire class exclaimed in response.  
“What about an entrance ceremony? Or a meeting with the guidance counselor?” the girl from the exam, Ochako, questioned.  
“Heroes don't have the time for things like that,” he turned to the class once again as a unit “I'm sure you're all aware about the freedom Yuuei gives you all on campus? That freedom isn't limited to you students,”  
With that he had the collective interest of the class.

“I'm sure you all remember the physical tests you did in middle school where you were barred from using your quirks?”  
Nagisa couldn't, at least not quite, but nodded along regardless.  
“Katsuki, how far could you pitch a softball in middle school?”  
“67 meters,” he said nonchalantly with his arms crossed across his chest.  
“Try it using your quirk now,” Aizawa said as he guided Katsuki into place “anything goes as long as you don't move from this circle. Don't hold back,”  
“Wasn't going to,” Katsuki stretched his arms as he got ready to throw.

He swung his arm back before pulling it forwards and releasing the ball in tandem with a strong explosion from the palm that held it.  
“Die!!!” he shouted as the flames from the explosion burst into the air around him. The scorched ball fell to the floor and the little machine in Aizawa’s hand beeped. There was a clear reading on its small screen: 705.2.  
“We must know what you're actually currently capable of to provide us with a starting point,” Aizawa explained.

“Cool! That looks fun!”  
“Awesome!”  
“We actually get to use our quirks?”

“It looks fun?” Aizawa seemed unimpressed “You were planning to spend your years here having fun? What happened to wanting to be heroes? Well, whatever. I suppose we’ll just have to introduce a new rule. The person who ranks last overall in these tests will be labelled 100% hopeless and promptly expelled.”  
Izuku was completely terrified at that. He had just managed to come within an arm's length of his dream and, because he didn’t know how to control his new quirk, he was going to lose it forever. His heart was beating so fast he was sure it would pop out of his chest.  
“This is plus ultra,” Aizawa said, it was the first time Izuku had interpreted the school motto as a threat “I expect you to overcome and strive for the very top,” he smiled in a mildly off putting manner “what I had Katsuki do was really just an example, now I expect you all to step up to the plate.”

The first test was a 50-metre dash. Tenya did exceedingly well on that as his quirk was the pair of functional engines in his calves that propelled him forwards. Most everyone else managed to use their quirks in some way or another to shave some time off of their quirk-free middle school record.

The next test was grip. Shoji with his many transforming arms was in his element with that one.

The following trials were the standing long jump and the side steps followed by the pitch, in which Ochako managed to achieve a score of infinity.  
Izuku knew that the pitch was his last chance to get a good score and he had no time to think of a good way to do it. He glanced over at Nagisa (who had done well on most every test) who was talking to a wiry kid with tape elbows whose name Izuku did not know. It was a good thing he wasn't paying Izuku that much attention, if he were there would be so many stern, disapproving looks that Izuku would reconsider his reckless plan.

He charged up his arm and got ready to throw the ball. But, right as he let go, the power disappeared in a flash.  
“46 metres,”  
“What was that?”  
“I erased your quirk,”  
“Nagisa was right, you really are Eraserhead,” Izuku mumbled under his breath. He looked up at Nagisa for a moment and was met with the exact expression he had expected. 

Izuku found himself being lectured about being useless as a hero if he constantly needed saving himself. Izuku had another chance to pitch but he had to do it without crippling himself.  
He noticed somewhat that tape boy had been apologetically placed on the sidelines for the time being so Nagisa could focus his undivided attention on Izuku.

Izuku knew he couldn't adjust the power he released, it was just simply impossible for him at that moment. If he couldn't adjust the power he needed to adjust something else. He needed to adjust his strategy. He needed to adjust where he released the power from. This time his arm did not fizzle with power. Not a single inch of his being did until the very last moment when he poured his power into just a single finger and let it push the ball.

Aizawa looked at his screen: 705.3. He then looked back at Izuku who was clutching his hand.  
He stopped soon after, straightening his back and looking at Aizawa with a grin.  
“I can still move!”  
His grin was eagerly returned.

Then he heard voices from his classmates.  
“Yay! You did it! Finally a good score!” Ochako called.  
“Your hand is swollen, like your limbs after the entrance exam. What an odd quirk…” Tenya mused.  
“Not stylish enough,” an annoying kid called Aoyama scoffed.  
Katsuki, on the other hand, didn’t know what to do. He simply couldn't compute any way in which the useless Izuku had suddenly gained a quirk.  
“What is this Deku?! Explain you fucking shitty nerd!” he charged with his quirk activated but found himself caught in Aizawa’s stare and bandages.

“Geez,” Aizawa complained “Don't make me use my quirk so much, I have dry eye for God's sake!”  
Izuku's eyes met Nagisa’s.  
“Good guess,” he said plainly.  
“Thanks,” Nagisa responded. He was kind of surprised - that had really been a guess. The voice didn't deem that a necessary thing to tell him. They just looked at each other for a moment more before laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I have decided it will be best to add Nagisa with everyone else. This is because I'm apprehensive to remove anyone from an incomplete series as they may still play a major role in the plot.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. This is my first time posting anything on this site or writing anything for either of these fandoms so please be kind to me. If anything is majorly OOC please don't hesitate to tell me, but do be aware of the sort of weird situations in this chapter (that will be explained later on). Also, sure ass class may be a little over glorified in this but it kind of has to be for things to work how I have planned for them to. Finally, I hope you enjoyed reading!  
> \- Siren_whispers


End file.
